Court blocks US from holding asylum seekers

WASHINGTON: A federal court ordered the Obama administration Friday (Saturday in Manila) to stop detaining mothers and children seeking asylum in the United States, a practice implemented to halt a wave of Central American migrants last summer.

The order by US District Judge James Boasberg in Washington removes a tool President Barack Obama’s administration had used to halt illegal immigration from across its southwestern border.

In his preliminary injunction, Boasberg said that mothers and their young children coming to the United States from Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador to escape from violence there had “credible fear” and could thus reasonably hope to obtain asylum.